Ceramic Souvenir Building Replicas

Ceramic and bisque are popular materials for souvenir buildings, monuments, memorials and towers. Some are coin banks, pen holders, candy dishes or ash trays. Check out the photos, below, and let me know if you know of others. 

Crested Ceramic Souvenir Buildings, Monuments, Towers, Statues, and Memorials

Ever notice these ceramic buildings, monuments and towers commonly called “crested china?” Goss crested china is typically in the form of small white glazed porcelain models, made from 1858 to 1939, carrying the coat of arms of the place where they were sold as a souvenir, thus being a form of model heraldic china. Other factories, including Carlton, Shelley, Willow and Arcadian, also made souvenir ware but Goss is one of the more collectable types. William Henry Goss (1833-1906), owner of the Falcon pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, England is credited with the idea of making souvenir ware bearing crests and names of seaside resorts in the late 19th century. The white glazed porcelain souvenirs are popular in the British Isles and are sometimes classical shapes of Roman and Greek antiquities. There are also many ceramic replicas of attractions including Tower Bridge, London’s Marble Arch, Windsor Castle, stadiums, cottages, churches, monuments and towers. The First World War caused a decline in production and in 1929 the Goss family sold their factory which continued to produce souvenir ware until the end of the 1930s. After the Second World War interest in Goss was revived. As with souvenir buildings, there is a club for Goss crested china collectors.

I collect 3D metal souvenir building replicas of architecture from around the world. If you have any to sell or trade, contact me via my email address in the “complete profile” link at the top right of this blog.

Rotating Ceramic Music Buildings

These large building replicas are made of ceramic and sit atop a rotating mechanism that also plays music. We want to call these music boxes, but they are not actually a box, so what do we call them? Music stand, musical base?  Another version that I didn’t include here because it’s not architectural, is the Powell & Mason cable car music box which has a label from "EFCCO, San Fran, CA, Made in Japan." Thanks to Joe K., who sent me most of the photos here. Do you know of other buildings in this series? 

National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

Seattle Space Needle on musical base 

Grand Ole Opry, New Orleans, Louisiana

Harvey's Resort Hotel, Lake Tahoe, Nevada

My Old Kentucky Home plays a minstrel song by Stephen Foster

Pedro's sign at South of the Border, a tourist trap at the border of states North Carolina and South Carolina.

 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN. Label on bottom reads, "Twitty City Gift Shop”

 

San Francisco trolley with famous “painted ladies” Victorian houses behind. Streetcar moves up hill by string marked 1980 Westland Co.

Catalina Casino Souvenir Building Replicas

Fellow building collector, Scott D., wrote about Catalina Casino, which is located in Avalon on the island of Santa Catalina, 22 miles off the coast of Los Angeles, California.

“The Casino is the most recognized landmark on the island and closes in the harbor of Avalon. The Casino was built on Sugarloaf Point, an earlier structure that was leveled to make way for the construction of a hotel.  Ultimately, the hotel was built elsewhere on the island. When chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. bought controlling stake in the Island he built a casino called Sugarloaf Casino but it didn’t last long as it was too small and it was razed in 1928 to make room for a new casino.

It was designed by Sumner Spaulding and Walter Weber and is describe at Mediterranean Revival. It is also the first completely circular building built in modern times and it received the honor award from the California chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The Casino houses the Avalon Theater on the first level, which seats up to 1,150, and is the first theater ever designed for sound movies. It is said that the acoustics are so good that a speaker on the stage can speak in a normal voice without a microphone and be heard throughout the room. The ballroom on the second level can accommodate up to 6,000 dancers and is so well insulated that

theater patrons directly below cannot hear either the band or the 12,000 dancing feet on the floor above. The Casino also served as the Civil Defense shelter and can house the entire islands population. Wrigley designed the Casino with ramps rather than stairs, an idea taken from his experience with Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium. The ramps allowed large numbers of people to more efficiently enter and exit. Since the current Casino building has been in existence, there have been different souvenirs made of the building. The first replica known was done by Catalina Clay Products Company in the 1930s. The company made tile and pottery on the island.

The next know version of the Casino was made by Effco of Japan and was sold on the Island from the 1950s-1960s, (see first photo, above). They are ceramic banks with rubber stoppers and are the most common souvenir of the Casino. Also, there have been charms made of the Casino. Other versions of the Casino were made, but unsure of the time frame.

Visiting Catalina Island just recently and seeing the magnificent Casino building in person (It’s very ‘Wow’ seeing all the sea-themed Deco decoration), I made a personal search for a souvenir version of the Casino not only in the town of Avalon, but the Casino itself. I didn’t find a one and the museum gift shop in the Casino itself told me there were none to be had. The only resent version of the Casino is by InFocus Tech and is the most detailed of any of the past or present souvenirs of the Casino. If you know of any other version of the Casino please let us know. It’s always interesting to see different versions of a popular tourist destination! “– Scott D.

Figural Building Teapots

On a cold winter day, what’s better than staying indoors and enjoying a hot cup of tea? I noticed some teapots with building designs at a store called World Market. Big Ben, Eiffel Tower and Taj Mahal are all represented. I found other teapots with architectural themes as well including a finely made Tower of London teapot and porcelain Guggenheim Museum teapot. I've written before about architecture in the kitchen. 

Cincinnati Union Terminal Train Station Bookends by Rookwood Pottery

Finely made bookend replicas of the Cincinnati Union Terminal train station are available. They are not cheap, but are for sale online. The bookends stand 4" high x 6.25" long x 3.25" wide. Made by the well-known ceramic maker, Rookwood pottery, which is also located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1880 by Marie Longworth Nichols, Rookwood pottery's initial work demonstrated an Oriental and European influence. Throughout Rookwood's years they mastered such diverse styles as Victorian, art nouveau, arts and crafts, and art deco. Seems a natural fit that they produce replicas of the stunning art deco style Cincinnati Union Terminal, which now has a new life as the Cincinnati Museum Center. The station opened in 1933 and its rotunda features the largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere, measuring 180 feet wide and 106 feet high. 

Tel Aviv’s Bauhaus Architecture

Israel’s city of Tel Aviv has the largest collection of buildings built in the Bauhaus architecture style of Germany. Bauhaus architecture flourished in Tel Aviv in the 1930’s because 17 former Bauhaus students worked as architects in the city. The Washington Post wrote about Tel Aviv’s Bauhaus neighborhood. Check out more photos of actual buildings in the city. Bauhaus-style ceramic replicas of Tel Aviv apartment buildings are scaled 1:1000. One example is a miniature of Tel Aviv-Yafo City Hall that measures 1 5/8 inches tall and 3 inches wide and is marked on the bottom with “Typical Local Bauhaus.” The Bauhaus Center’s gift shop still sells some of the miniature replicas and the occasionally show up on eBay.

Old Executive Office Building Replica

This large ceramic replica of the Old Executive Office Building measures 14 inches by 8 inches. The center portion of the roof comes off to enable it to be a cookie jar or box. Little is known about this unusual souvenir building and why it was made. The official name is The Eisenhower Executive Office Building and it’s located next to the West Wing, and houses a majority of offices for White House staff. Originally built for the State, War and Navy Departments between 1871 and 1888, the EEOB is an impressive building that commands a unique position in both our national history and architectural heritage. Designed by Supervising Architect of the Treasury Alfred Mullett, the granite, slate and cast iron exterior makes the EEOB one of America's best examples of the French Second Empire style of architecture. It took 17 years for Mullett's masterpiece to finally be completed. Even thought it’s only five stories tall, the total Building Area is 662,598 GSF or 11 1/2 football fields and has 553 rooms.